"... by the tenth century, the imperial Turkic authority of the Khazars underwent a transformation whereby the previously unified secular and sacral autocratic leadership was split between two individuals with corresponding official functions. This so-called double leadership (see Golden 1992:52-53, 58) was linked by many historians to the traditional division of Turko-Mongolian social organisations into moieties and the ensuing division of political labour, which allowed them to remain the dominant authority over many communities across large territories. However, if one looks more closely at this double-office and rulership and at the nature of the political authority in the late period of the Khazar polity, it becomes evident that this type of paradigm has more in common with the double rule in the contemporary Islamic Caliphate (when the Buyids assumed political domination in the caliphate). In the latter case, the nominal religious leader was represented by the Sunni Abbasid caliph, but the actual secular military power was assumed by the Shii Buyids who commanded armies from Baghdad. As the historian Vladimir Minorsky suggested in 1953, it is from that realm that Islamic political currents penetrated into the domain of the Khazars. In Russia, however, the Khazars are not even researched within the framework of Islamic history."
Peter B. Golden,
"The linking of the dual kingship in Khazaria with Judaization has appeared over the years in a number of variants. Artamonov placed the emergence of the dual kingship in the early ninth century and connected it with the activities of Obadiyah, to whom he attributed the imposition of full rabbinical Judaism and a coup d'etat that reduced the Qagan to a largely ceremonial position. This produced the revolt of the Qabars. The Qagan was also compelled to convert to Judaism. This form of governance did not derive from Judaism, but was, he suggests, an innovation resulting from the replacing of one ruling dynasty with another (Golden:2007, 155).
"Pletneva identified Obadiyah with the unnamed Khazar ruler (the Qagan, in her view) mentioned in Al-Masudi's notice as converting to Judaism. The consequence of this conversion of the Qagan, Beg and Itil aristocracy, she argues, was to alienate the ruling clique from the rest of the Khazar aristocracy which resulted in a power struggle between the non-Judaized provinces and the capital. Pletneva concluded that Obadiyah was among those who perished in the "Khazarian Fronde", and the state itself was weakened (Golden:2007, 155).
"Pritsak also placed the emergence of the Beg to sometime after 799 but before 833 when the Beg is shown playing an important role in foreign affairs (the building of Sarkel). The Beg, who, he conjectures, is the major domo from the Iranian Barc/Waraz/Bolcan clan, is identified with Obadiyah and the Khazar ruler who converted during the reign of Harun ar-Rasid. This Beg forced the Qaganal clan to convert to Judaism, producing the "Judaization of the institution of the Khaghanate", according to which only a Judaized Khazar could hold the position (cf al-Istahri). Pritsak dates the Qabar revolt (a reaction in his view to Judaization) to between 833 and 843 (or 835), by which time the Qagan had "lost all power", and had, indeed, been compelled to Judaize as well (Golden:2007, 155).
"As for the much debated question of dating the conversion, we now have some new evidence that gives weight to Al-Masudi's notice. It has become clear that the Khazars in the ninth century minted coins, perhaps in response to a decline in Muslim minting in the 820s. The Khazar coins were imitations of Islamic dirhams. However, they included in some instances, the inscription ard al-hazar "land of the Khazars", turkic tamgas and some dirhams with the most striking formula (for imitation Islamic coins"(Golden:2007, 156)
No comments:
Post a Comment